That One Thread About Nothing

[Delkaetre]

I'll not mention my current exact annual income here. It's probably against some kind of rule. Instead, I'll use a theoretical self that never managed to get a job and is totally dependent on benefits. I am under 24 and unmarried, so I get the very lowest possible amount of JSA.

If I were unemployed and hadn't been able to pay NICS, my weekly income from JSA would be £50.94, or £2648.88/year. Let's assume I'm then on Housing Benefit and add the maximum allowable housing and council tax benefit for my current place in to all this- £304.25/month, or £3651/year. This makes my theoretical jobless self's total annual income £6299.88

Now. James Purnell will again be my target, as he's the one who wants to reduce my benefits even further.

He claims £21,209 in a year on his 'second home' housing benefit. This equates to 5.8 times, call it 6 for neatness' sake, my allowable housing benefit. It works out as nearly three and a half times my absolute total annual income on housing, jobseeking, and council tax benefits.

He claims £17,959 for 'office' costs, without including staffing, communication or anything else. This works out as 2.85, or approximately three, times my total annual living allowances.

He claims £6,369 for travel, which is £69.12 more than I get in an entire year.

He claims £4634 for 'Communications', or £983 more than my whole year's housing allowance, or £1985.12 more than my job seeker's allowance for clothing, transport, food, bills and communications.

In total, he claims £129,564 in a year. In a year, I can claim £6299.88. This is £12326.12 more than I get, or more than TWENTY times my whole annual income.

Remember, this is the man who wants to cut benefits to even tinier amounts. Bear in mind that the figures used are all just his expenses- not his wage, not any undeclared benefits, and not any other incomes.

I hope this has made reasonably interesting reading for you. As an exercise, it has certainly clarified a few things for me. All figures used are taken directly from BBC News or use information from Direct Gov, which advertises itself as the website of the UK government.

(I make no promises on the accuracy of my mathematics, and haven't investigated unemployment benefits well enough to know whether the fictional me can claim anything more than this, or would be forced into claiming rather less than this)

[Delkaetre]

Just googled 'MP Salary', and found this website-
http://www.parliament.uk/faq/members_faq_page2.cfm
And on it, I found this statement-
What is the annual salary of an MP?
£64,766 as of 1 April 2009

So if you want to compare annual income of an MP, including expenses, with annual income of an unemployed young person in the UK, add nearly sixty five grand to the total.
That's still not counting undeclared profits, additional incomes, rental incomes on other properties, etc.

[korinna5555]

Last night was fuckingggg AMAZING.

My friend texted me while I was in school.. he was back from college, and wanted to take me to an indie rock show in DC. He picked me up from school, we drove to DC, and were PLANNING on going to Dupont Circle for a while. We became horribly lost, for about two and a half hours.. finally found the place where the show was at, and waited for the doors to open.
First up was Good Old War, which I liked. Next was Lovedrug, which I loved. Then we saw Straylight Run, which was also good. Lovedrug was definitely my favorite.. I bought a CD, and their guitarist signed it for me. My friend and I were in the very front, sound was GREAT.
We got out of the club around 11:40, and ended up getting REALLY lost. Like.. what would have been an hour long drive took us about three. It was fun though.. We finally got back to Leesburg, and wanted to go to IHOP. It was like.. 2:30-ish, and I wanted an omelette and a Funny Face pancake. Another friend had INSISTED IHOP was open all night, but NOOOOO. So we settled for MickeyD's, because it was the only place open. Anddd thennnn.. I got home at 3am. Basically passed out, woke up with Sharpie on my face (from the X's on my hands).
Now I am tired as hell, but DAMN THAT WAS FUN!
I still want IHOP though.. D:

[honeythorn]

Have I made a pendant in the shape of a faintly annoyed cuttlefish? You can fucking bet I have.

[Malice In Wonderland]

Cthulhu?

I need to get round to doing my Cult of Cthulhu vest...

[honeythorn]

No just a cuttlefish ^_^

[Duane]

I'm writing a song about cuttlefish. Humongous cuttlefish, attacking a ship commanded by Lord Duanecles.

[Beowulf]

Originally Posted by honeythorn

Have I made a pendant in the shape of a faintly annoyed cuttlefish? You can fucking bet I have.

Sounds cool Honeythorn, are you going to post any pictures of it ?

[honeythorn]

I can do I guess ^_^

[Malice In Wonderland]

Recordings tomorrow...
With a stand-in bassist 'cos Loren canceled. -.-

[Duane]

What a pain, right before recordings, the things we musicians go through.

[Beowulf]

Originally Posted by Duane

What a pain, right before recordings, the things we musicians go through.

Did you ever finish that Trojan war epic you were writing ?

[Duane]

I put that on hold for a while, I'm working on my PeL project first. After I'm done with Introducing Duane, I'll get back to working on Mythologyz.

[Beowulf]

Originally Posted by Duane

I put that on hold for a while, I'm working on my PeL project first. After I'm done with Introducing Duane, I'll get back to working on Mythologyz.

What is your PeL project ?

[Duane]

Watch some videos by prozzak, basically it's that, but pervy and more sad.

[SiouxsiePernova]

Originally Posted by Malice In Wonderland

Cthulhu?

I need to get round to doing my Cult of Cthulhu vest...

[Malice In Wonderland]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HHHHHH.
THAT RULES.

Anyone know where I can order the whole Marvel Zombies series and the Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness prequel series?

I'm leaving to record in a couple of hours.
Wish me luck.

[korinna5555]

Malice, Amazon dot com
*wishes luck*
I wanna hear some of your music soon, kay?

SiouxsieP, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

[Duane]

Reminds me... I have 3-4 demos to record.

[Xombie]

Oh, MDMA, how I love you so.

[HumanePain]

Originally Posted by korinna5555

... and were PLANNING on going to Dupont Circle for a while.

Dupont Circle has some awesome, quality strip joints. A guy can stand in front of a low center stage, have two awesome chicks, one on each side, holding your shoulders whilst they dance nude for you wearing only garter belts for you to put in $20 bills.

Unforgettable.

Uh...that was in my drinking days. I'm not a strip patron any longer.

[Malice In Wonderland]

Originally Posted by korinna5555

Malice, Amazon dot com
*wishes luck*
I wanna hear some of your music soon, kay?

SiouxsieP, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Couldn't find it on there.
BUT it turns out they sell them on the MARVEL website.

ALSO!
SOME CABLES DIDN'T WORK.
SO NO FUCKING RECORDINGS.

Hopefully should get them done like, Thursday in the holidays.

[Duane]

I hate when that happens.

[Malice In Wonderland]

Although I did get to see Loren after...

[Duane]

Seeing the silver lining in the clouds, man. That's really great.